


Persona 3: Burn My Dread

by LazuriteLuxCaelum



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn/Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-06-27 17:05:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15689703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazuriteLuxCaelum/pseuds/LazuriteLuxCaelum
Summary: 10 years have pass by since Miyuki Arisato have lose her parents and siblings in a tragic accident. Now she has return to the very place where she lose them and soon find herself awakening to the power of Persona and joining a group called S.E.E.S, who's goal is to fight shadows and find a way to get rid of the Dark Hour.





	1. Chapter 1

_Time never waits._

_It delivers all equally to the same end………_

_You, who wish to safeguard the future,_

_However limited it may be………_

_You will be given one year,_

_Go forth without falter,_

_With your mind and heart as your guide and strength………_

XXXX

**Evening, in the train station in Sapporo………**

The cacophony of the voices of the crowd around the fair-skinned, red/blue-eyed emotionless-looking girl with long straight purple hair tied up with a dark green ribbon into a ponytail behind her head and wearing a short sleeve light blue shirt with a dark blue vest over it and a purple wristwatch on her wrist, knee length grey denim jeans and matching sneakers on her feet (and also carrying a diamond pattern black and white duffel bag over her left shoulder) is tuned out by the girl as she stand and waited on the platform for the train that’ll take and bring her to Iwatodai dorm on Tatsumi Port Island, the place where she lost her parents and siblings in a tragic accident on the Moonlight Bridge and the loss of her parents and siblings has caused her to become a emotionless girl.

After another few minutes of waiting, the train arrived and stopped in the station and opened it’s door and the girl stepped into the train (with some of the crowd) before she look around the interior of the train, spotted an empty seat near the window and quickly approach and sit down and closed her eyes to sleep as the train closed it’s doors and drove away from the station toward it’s next destination.

XXXX

**3 hours later, late night………**

“ _Figures. I’m late and it’s nearly midnight._ ” thought the girl in her mind as she watched the train finally arrived and stopped in the Iwatodai train station of Tatsumi Port Island.

“ _We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the delay………_ ” said a male voice from the PA system above the girl.

“ _Yeah, whatever._ ” thought the girl uncaringly about what the PA system just spoke out.

“ _Iwatodai, Iwatodai. This is the final train bound for Tatsumi Port Island. Please make sure you board in time for departure………_ ” the PA system droned on as the girl grab her bag, stood up and walked out of the train only to stop on the platform to take out a flyer from her left pants pocket and unfold it to see where the dorm’s location is.

“ _Now, to see where the dorm is._ ” Thought the girl as she glance down at the flyer in her hand.

" _Iwatodai, Iwa-_ " the PA system droned on before the watch on the girl’s wrist and the clock hanging on the wall above her struck midnight and the entire surrounding around the girl immediately change and turned dead silence.

“Hm?” said the girl as she raised her head for a look and saw that all of the lights in the station had gone out, leaving the station lit by a creepy green glow and with dozens of glowing crimson and black coffins standing upright around her where the crowd is.

“ _What a strange phenomenon and stranger still is that I’m the only one that didn’t transform into those upright coffin things. Whatever that’s happening around me now doesn’t concern me and I should get to the dorm._ ” thought the girl with a blank look on her face and a shrug of her shoulders before she folded and put the flyer back into her pocket, turned to her left and walked out of the station.

As the girl walked out of the station, she saw, ignored and make her way past even more of the coffins standing upright in different places around her with puddles of blood on the ground and the moon in the night sky above her is glowing an eerie yellow and looks much larger than ever. After the girl spend the next 16 minutes walking down the street, she finally arrived, stopped and glance silently at the huge five-storey dorm building in front of her before she walked up the steps toward the double front doors, opened it and went in.

Once the girl went into the dorm and closed the door behind her, she take a look at the dorm’s lobby around her and saw a reception desk to her left, a living room to her right with the dining room behind the living room and a staircase leading up to the upper floors in the far left corner of the dorm.

“ _As expected of a normal-looking dorm. However, another strange thing is that the lights in here is still on and functioning, unlike outside._ ” thought the girl as she shrugged her shoulders.

" _You're late._ " said an unfamiliar young boy’s voice suddenly to the girl and she glance and saw a pale-skinned, short black-haired, ethereal blue-eyed boy with a black beauty spot under his right eye and wearing a long sleeve black and white stripe prison shirt and matching pants standing behind the reception desk and staring at the girl.

“I’ve been waiting for a long while.” said the boy as he raised his right arm to click his fingers before he disappear from the desk and reappear in front of the girl. “Now if you want to proceed, please sign here.” said the boy as he gestured at a kind of sign-in sheet with a pen on it lying on the desk.

“You want me to sign the paper?” said the girl flatly to the boy.

"Yes and don't worry. All it says is that you take full responsibility for your actions. You know……… the usual stuff." said the boy.

“Very well then.” said the girl as she pick up the pen and wrote her full name _Miyuki Arisato_ on the blank space for names at the bottom of the sheet and handed the sheet over to the boy.

"Thank you." said the boy thankfully to the girl named Miyuki Arisato as he take the sheet from her and promptly make the sheet disappear into thin air.

“Wow, that’s quite the magic trick from a boy like you.” said Miyuki as she gave a blank smile to the boy.

"If you say so. And one more thing that you need to know. No one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes. And so it begins………" said the boy before darkness approach and enveloped him completely from behind until he’s gone from Miyuki’s sight. Soon after he’s gone, the light in the dorm disappear as well and the same eerie green light shrouded the dorm like the outside.

“ _Guess I was wrong about the lights being on and functioning in the dorm. Oh well, time for me to………_ ” thought Miyuki.

"Who's there!?" said an unfamiliar girl’s voice suddenly to Miyuki, which make her turned to glance at where the voice comes from and she saw a slightly tan-skinned, short light brown-haired, brown-eyed girl (who’s staring at Miyuki with a frighten and tense look on her face) about her age wearing a long sleeve pink sweater jacket with a red ribbon tied around her neck, black mini skirt, knee-length black socks with white lines on the outer sides and brown shoes and a beige holster with a gun in it (which the girl had her hand hovering near it) strapped around her left thigh.

Both Miyuki and the girl stared silently at each other for another few seconds before the girl quickly took hold of the gun and about to pull it out from it’s holster.

"Takeba, wait!" said yet another female voice calmly from behind the first girl (Takeba) before she and Miyuki glance at the other girl standing on the staircase and Miyuki saw that she’s a mature and pretty-looking long red-haired (with a part of it covering her left eye), reddish brown eyed, fair-skinned girl wearing a long sleeve white blouse with the same red ribbon tied around her neck, black skirt and knee-length, high heel black boots on her feet and the same beige holster with the same gun in it strapped around her waist.

“ _Looks like these two is most probably some of the other dormmates that live in this dorm before I came. Wonder why they’ve guns on their thigh or around their waist though……… Yeah, whatever._ ” thought Miyuki to herself about the two girls and the guns that they had on them before the green light went away and the normal lights came back into the dorm.

“The trains were delayed and is the reason why you arrived this late?” asked the red-haired girl as she approach and stopped in front of Miyuki with her arms crossed and a small smile on her face.

“That’s right.” replied Miyuki with a nod of her head.

"I'm not surprised." sighed the red-haired girl before she introduced herself to Miyuki. "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo and I’m one of the students who live in this dorm."

"………Who's she?" asked the first girl as she glance at Mitsuru.

"Miyuki Arisato. A transfer student from Sapporo.” replied Miyuki flatly to the first girl’s question before Mitsuru could answer her.

"That’s right. It was a last-minute decision to assign her here; she'll eventually be moved to a room in the girls dorm upstairs." said Mitsuru as she nodded to Miyuki.

"……… It is really okay for her to be here?" said the first girl as she glance unsurely and concernly at Miyuki.

"I guess we'll see." said Mitsuru thoughtfully to the first girl without looking before she decided to introduced her to Miyuki. "This is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a junior this spring, just like you." explained Mitsuru as she gestured with her hand at the girl named Yukari Takeba.

"………Hey, I’m Yukari." said Yukari, feeling a bit relax now.

“Yeah, sure.” said Miyuki as she shrug her shoulders.

"It's getting late so you should get some rest. Your room's on the third floor, at the end of the hall and your things should already be there." said Mitsuru after she’s done introducing and explaining herself and Yukari to Miyuki.

"I'll show you the way. Follow me." said Yukari, offering to show Miyuki the way to her room.

"Sure." said Miyuki as she walked past Mitsuru to follow Yukari up the stairs toward the third floor before they walked down a hallway past several rooms and stopped in front of the last room near a window.

"Well, here we are. This is your room." announced Yukari as she glance at Miyuki while gesturing at the room with her left hand. "Pretty easy to remember, right? Since it’s right at the end of the hall, and all. Oh, and by the way……… Don't ever lose your key. You'll never hear the end of it. Got it?" added Yukari concernly to Miyuki.

“Yeah, got it.” said Miyuki.

"So, do you have any questions?" said Yukari.

"Yeah, I do have one. Does that boy live here too?” asked Miyuki.

"………What boy?" said Yukari in worry and confusion to Miyuki.

"You know, the boy who asked me to sign my name on a contract.” said Miyuki.

“Like I said, what boy are you talking about?” said Yukari.

“You know what, never mind. Forget about it.” said Miyuki.

"Alright then.” said Yukari before she asked Miyuki another question. “Actually, on your way here from the station, was everything all right? You didn't run into problems?"

“None at all.” said Miyuki as she shake her head a little.

"I see, that's good, then.” said Yukari as she nodded and gave a small smile to Miyuki. “Well, I should head back to my room now so good night and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Uh huh.” said Miyuki as she watched Yukari turned and head toward and entered her own room opposite hers before she opened the door, stepped into her new room and she saw a desk standing against the wall between two windows to her left, a cupboard leaning against the wall to her right, a single-sized bed leaning against the wall in front of her plus several boxes that contains her stuffs inside in the middle of the room.

Miyuki then closed and locked the door behind her before she walked past the boxes (which she decide to unpack tomorrow), put her duffel bag down on the desk before she walked toward the bed and lie down on it and soon fell asleep due to exhaustion.


	2. Chapter 2

**The next day, inside the dormitory………**

When Miyuki woke up the next day, she got off the bed, take off the clothes that she wore yesterday and put on her new school uniform (which is a long sleeve black jacket with the same red ribbon tied around her neck, black mini skirt, knee-length white socks and brown shoes on her feet) and once she’s done putting on her uniform and getting her school’s bag, she heard the sound of someone knocking on the door and turned to glance at the door.

“It’s Yukari. Are you awake?” asked Yukari’s voice from the other side of the door before she opened the door and came in. “Good morning. Did you sleep okay?” added Yukari as she smiled at Miyuki.

“Yeah, I guess.” replied Miyuki as she shrug her shoulders.

“Mitsuru-senpai asked me to take you to school. Are you ready to go?” said Yukari.

“She did, huh? Thanks but I’ll be fine on my own.” said Miyuki.

“Oh……… are you sure………?” said Yukari as she frown at Miyuki. “But you don’t wanna risk being late on your first day, do you? C’mon, hurry and let’s go!” added Yukari before she grabbed hold of Miyuki’s left arm and dragged her out of her room, down the stairs and out of the dormitory and toward the train station.

“ _So much for me going to school on my own._ ” thought Miyuki to herself as both she and Yukari went into the train station and into the train with a few passengers before the doors closed and the train left the station.

“We had to take the monorail to get there. Bet your previous school wasn’t like that, huh?” asked Yukari as she glance at Miyuki.

“No, it’s not.” replied Miyuki flatly to Yukari.

“I thought as much.” said Yukari as she frown at Miyuki again before a happy look appear and replaced the frown look on her face when she saw the train drove past and above the ocean. “Oh look. This is my favourite part……… when it feels like you’re gliding over the sea. Our stop is Port Island Station at the end of the line. From there, we walk. Have you ever heard of Tatsumi Port Island? It’s a man-made island and they built our school right in the middle. Oh look, there it is right now, Miyuki!” added Yukari as she raised and pointed her finger at the windows at the island that she just mentioned to Miyuki (who glance blankly at the island and at the modern, large building that is the school standing in the middle of the island).

The next second, the train arrived and stopped at the station on the island before the doors opened and both Miyuki and Yukari walked out of the train and toward the school.

“Well, here we are. Welcome to Gekkoukan High School! Hope that it’s to your liking, Miyuki!” said Yukari as she smiled at Miyuki.

“Uh huh.” said Miyuki as she nodded to Yukari before they went into the school (which Miyuki saw that it’s a lobby that had a small counter selling notebooks and breads (and she saw that a male teacher is arguing with the woman standing behind the counter) in the far left corner of the lobby opposite the stairs and some bulletin boards and plants on the right side of the room with some students standing and staring at the board while others talked to each other in front of the board) with the other students and stopped near the shoe lockers.

“You’re okay from here, right? You should go see your homeroom teacher first. The Faculty Office is right there to the left.” said Yukari as she pointed her finger at the hallway from the left of the school’s lobby behind Miyuki. “………And that concludes the tour. Do you have any questions before I go?” asked Yukari.

“Nope.” replied Miyuki as she turned to glance at the hallway where the Faculty Office is that Yukari just told her.

“Hey. About last night……… Don’t tell anyone what you saw, okay?” said Yukari concernly to Miyuki.

“Uh huh.” said Miyuki as she shrug her shoulders.

“………Good, see you later.” said Yukari before she turned and walked away.

After Yukari left, Miyuki then turned and went into the left hallway toward the faculty office (while ignoring another male teacher wearing a samurai helmet on his head talking to a blonde-haired male student outside the room) and opened the door and went in. Once she stepped into the office, she saw that the room is mostly empty except for a lone, fair-skinned, short light brown-haired, brown-eyed female teacher wearing a peach business suit and matching long pants and black heels on her feet sitting at her desk and going through some files before the teacher noticed Miyuki and turned to glance at her.

“Oh, are you the new transfer student named Miyuki Arisato? 11th grade, correct?” said the teacher to Miyuki.

“That’s right.” said Miyuki as she nodded to the teacher (who opened and flipped through pages of a file about her).

“Wow, you’ve lived in a lot of different places……… Let’s see……… In 1999……… That was what, 10 years ago? And as for your parents and siblings-” said the teacher as she read out what’s on her file before she gasped, winced and gave an apologetic look at Miyuki. “I’m sorry……… I’ve been so busy that I didn’t have time to read this beforehand.”

“It’s fine and I don’t mind it that much anymore.” said Miyuki with a shake of her head.

“Well, if you say so. Anyway, I’m Toriumi-sensei and I teach Composition. Welcome to our school, Arisato-san.” greeted the teacher named Toriumi-sensei politely to Miyuki as she closed the file about her.

“Yeah, sure. Nice to meet you.” greeted Miyuki flatly back to her.

“My, aren’t you an emotionless one? Can’t blame you after what you go through after you lose your family. Hope that you won’t be like this for long in this school and have you seen the classroom assignments on the board in the lobby?” said Toriumi-sensei.

“No, I didn’t.” said Miyuki as she shake her head again.

“You’re in 2-F; that’s my class. But first, we need to go to the auditorium. The Welcoming Ceremony will be starting soon. Follow me, Arisato-san.” said Toriumi-sensei before she stood up, turned and left the office with Miyuki following behind her as they head toward the auditorium.

XXXX

**A few minutes later, in the auditorium………**

“As all of you begin the new school year, I’d like each of you to remember the proverb, “ _If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well_ ”. When applied to student life, this means………” said an elderly, pudgy man on the podium on the stage to the students and teachers inside the large auditorium.

“ _How boring._ ” thought Miyuki as she closed her eyes and tune out the principal’s speech.

“His speech is horrendously long and boring, isn’t it, transfer student? It’s like he’s in love with his voice and wants to hear himself talking on and had no idea that his speech is putting all of us to sleep more effectively than sleeping pills or sedatives.” said a male voice sarcastically to Miyuki from her right, which make her open her eyes to glance at the guy (which she saw is a slightly tan-skinned, short black-haired, purple-eyed guy wearing a grey shirt that had the image of a black wolf on it with a black blazer over it, long black pants and white shoes on his feet) talking to her.

“Uh huh.” said Miyuki in flat agreement with the guy.

“Ah, you’re one of those people who’s emotionless and doesn’t talk much because of something very tragic happened to you in the past, right?” said the guy when he heard the flatness of her voice.

“You can say that.” said Miyuki as she shrug her shoulders.

“In that case, I’ll make it my mission to make you shed that emotionless personality of yours away. And before I forget, the name’s Umbra Okami and nice to meet you.” said the guy as he introduced himself to Miyuki.

“………Yeah, nice to meet you. I’m Miyuki Arisato.” said Miyuki, introducing herself to him as well. “ _He’s a weird one, thinking that he could make me shed away my emotionless personality._ ” added Miyuki dryly in her mind as she ignored the other students whispering about her.

“I hear talking. I believe it’s someone from Toriumi-sensei’s class………” said a male teacher as he scowled at the students who whisper about Miyuki and they quickly fell silent.

“Shhh! Be quiet! You’re going to get me in trouble!” said Toriumi-sensei slightly sternly to them.

“ _Hmph, that’ll teach them a little. And I can see that she thinks I can't do it. Well, I'll show her that I can._ ” thought Umbra slightly smugly in his mind at them being reprimanded for whispering and at Miyuki for thinking that he can't do it.

XXXX

**Several hours later, after school………**

After homeroom ended for the day and Toriumi-sensei left the class, Miyuki and the other students packed up their bags and as Miyuki stood up and about to leave, she stopped when she came face to face with a tan-skinned, short black-haired, brown-eyed cheerful-looking goatee guy wearing an untucked blue button-up shirt with a black blazer over it, long black pants and brown shoes on his feet and a dark blue cap on his head.

"Sup, dude!?” said the guy cheerfully to Miyuki.

“What do you want?” said Miyuki flatly to the guy.

"Geez, emotionless much? At least let me introduced myself. I’m Junpei lori. Nice to meet ya.” said the guy named Junpei lori to Miyuki. “I transferred here when I was in 8th grade. I know how tough it is bein' the new kid……… So I thought I’d check up on you, make sure you weren’t freaking out on your first day. Although I didn’t expect you to be so emotionless like a robot.” added Junpei as he leaned forward a little with a smile on his face.

“Personal space.” said Miyuki as she take a step back from him while Yukari approach them both.

“At it again, huh? Honestly, is there any girl you wouldn’t hit on? Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?” sighed Yukari as she rolled her eyes at Junpei.

“What? But I was just bein’ friendly to the new girl.” said Junpei as he pouted at Yukari.

“If you say so………" said Yukari before she glance at Miyuki. "Anyway, some coincidence that we’d be in the same homeroom, huh?"

“Yeah, I guess.” said Miyuki as she shrug her shoulders.

"It’s kinda funny, huh?" said Yukari, smiling at Miyuki.

"Um, hello? Did you forget that I'm in this class too? C’mon, lemme in on the fun!" said Junpei in a slight exaggerated and neglected tone of voice to them before he remembered something and a smile appear on his face. "By the way, do you two know each other? Because I heard that you two came to school together this morning. A couple of cuties like you two, walking side by side……… The whole class was buzzing about it.”

“Ugh……… could you just cut it out? I hate dealing with rumors like that. I mean, I’m used to it, but she just got here, you know? Don’t you feel bad, spreading rumors like that?” said Yukari as she scowled in irritation at Junpei. “Well, I gotta go take care of some archery team stuff. Don’t try anything funny on her, you got that, Junpei?” added Yukari warningly to Junpei before she turned and left the class.

“What is she, your nanny………?” said Junpei as he rolled his eyes a little at what Yukari just said to him before he glance at Miyuki. “Well, just to clear something up, I seriously didn’t come here to hit on you or anything. If you ever have a problem, you can tell your old pal Junpei about it!”

“I wonder about that.” said Miyuki.

“Ouch, blunt much? Yuka-tan’s rubbing off on you already, huh? Well, I’ll be seeing you around then.” said Junpei with a feign hurtful look on his face before he turned and as he’s about to leave, he remembered something else and turned back to Miyuki. “Oh, I forgot to tell you something else. Did anyone tell you about the school clubs yet?”

“No.” said Miyuki as she shake her head.

“Well, I’ll tell you now then. Girls can join too, so why not check it out and do it if you’re interested? You’d be joining as a new member though, so you won’t be able to apply for a little while. That’s all, see you!” said Junpei as he smiled again at Miyuki before he turned and left the class.

Soon after he left, Miyuki left the class as well to head back to the dormitory.

XXXX

**A few minutes later, in the dormitory………**

After Miyuki came back from Gekkoukan high school and entered the dormitory, she saw both Mitsuru and Umbra reading some thick, leather novels and sitting side by side on the long couch in the living room while Yukari is sitting by herself in the dining room. When they saw Miyuki, they smiled and bade her “Welcome back” and she nodded to them before she walked down the hallway past them toward the stairs and went up to her room for her slumber.

XXXX

**Another few minutes later………**

As both Mitsuru and Umbra kept on reading the novels in their hands, they heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and look up to see a slightly tan-skinned, short light grey-haired, grey-eyed confident-looking guy wearing a white button-up shirt with a sleeveless red vest over it and a black ribbon tied around the collar of his shirt, black gloves on his hands, long black pants and black shoes on his feet before the guy stopped to glance at them.

“Let me guess, going out again, huh?” said Umbra.

“That’s right, I am.” said the guy as he nodded to Umbra. “Besides, haven’t you two seen the newspaper lately?”

“………We know.” sighed Mitsuru.

“Yeah, people who have no problems before are suddenly developing acute cases of “Apathy Syndrome”……… We’ve seen it in the news quite often lately. They say it’s due to stress, but we know it’s not. It’s their doing.” said Umbra with a stern look on his face.

"Exactly, Umbra.” said the guy in agreement with Umbra. “Otherwise, it’s not worth my time and effort………”

"You have a one-track mind……… Will you be okay on your own?" said Mitsuru concernly to the guy.

“Don’t worry, I’m just getting a little practice.” said the guy reassuringly to both Mitsuru and Umbra before he left the dormitory.

"This isn't a game, Akihiko………" sighed Mitsuru worriedly at the guy named Akihiko.

“He said he’ll be fine so don’t worry about it, Mitsuru.” said Umbra as he clasped and squeeze Mitsuru’s right hand a little to reassured her, which make her blush a little and nodded to him before they resumed reading the novels.


	3. Chapter 3

**The next day………**

As Miyuki woke up early the next day, she got off the bed, change her pajamas into her uniform before she grab her bag and left her room and went downstairs to the first floor and saw Umbra standing and cooking something in the kitchen.

“ _Whatever Okami-senpai’s cooking smells good. Could it be that’s he’s the dorm’s cook or something? Whatever, I guess._ ” thought Miyuki as she watch Umbra kept on cooking in silence until he’s done cooking, slowly put what he cooked on two plates (which Miyuki saw is macaroni and cheese) before he turned and noticed her.

“Oh, good morning, Arisato-san. Care to join me for breakfast?” asked Umbra as he smiled at her while picking up, bringing and put the two plates of macaroni and cheese down on the dining table opposite each other and sat down and began eating.

“Uh huh, good morning, Okami-senpai.” replied Miyuki flatly to Umbra as she sat down and began eating as well.

After a few minutes, both Umbra and Miyuki’s done eating their breakfast, stood up and put the plates into the sink and washed them before they left the dorm, head to the subway station to take the train to school, got off and headed toward the school and Miyuki stop when she saw and overheard two girls in another class talking about something.

“Did you hear the rumor………?” said the gossiping female student to her friend.

“Oh, uh……… something about……… a bathroom?” said the loud student to her.

“N-No! Not that one! I mean the story about the first-year student!” said the gossiping student slightly sternly to the loud student. “Not only did she stop coming to school, she does nothing but sit and stare at the walls all day. If her mother tries to talk to her, she only mutters the same words to herself, “It’s coming……… It’s coming………!”

“Huh. How about that.” said the loud student with a shrug of her shoulders.

“You don’t believe me?” said the gossiping student as she scowled at her friend.

“Hey, come on. We’re going to be late if we don’t head in, Arisato-san.” said Umbra as he turned and approach Miyuki when he saw her stopping and eavesdropping on the 2 students conversation near the gate.

“Yeah, sure.” said Miyuki before she and Umbra went toward and entered the school just as the first bell started ringing.

XXXX

**Afternoon, in class………**

“Open your textbooks and we’ll take a look at the first novel by……… Zenzou Kasai.” said Toriumi-sensei to the class as she opened her own textbook, glance and scowled at it a little. “Ugh……… why him? I’d rather teach Utsubo Kubota. He became famous as a singer, but he’s also produced fine literature. I wonder why it’s not in the textbook. Well, I’ll just bring Kubota’s book next time.” added Toriumi-sensei before she noticed Junpei not paying attention to her lesson.

“Hey, Junpei! Were you listening? Who did I say was my favourite author?” said Toriumi-sensei sternly to Junpei (who started to get nervous before he glance at Miyuki).

“Psst! Who does she like, Miki-tan?” whisper Junpei to Miyuki.

“Utsubo Kubota.” whisper Miyuki flatly to him and he nodded and answer Toriumi-sensei’s question.

“That’s right! So you were listening to me after all!” said Toriumi-sensei in a surprise then slightly proud tone of voice to Junpei.

“Eheheh……… Well, you know how I like to pay attention!” chuckle Junpei before he glance at Miyuki again. “Man, you saved my bacon, Miki-tan!” whisper Junpei thankfully to her.

“Yeah, whatever.” whisper Miyuki flatly again to Junpei while ignoring the whispers of the other students about her paying attention and telling Junpei the correct answer and felt her charm go up a little.

XXXX

**Evening, in the dormitory………**

After school ended for the day and Miyuki pack up her school’s stuff and left the classroom, Umbra approach and follow her from the school back to the dorm and as they step into the dorm’s lounge, they saw Yukari and an unfamiliar, pale-skinned, shoulder-length brown-haired, brown-eyed, sophisticated-looking man wearing a full light brown tan suit and a pair of glasses on his face were talking in the living room before they stopped talking and turned to glance at both Miyuki and Umbra.

“Oh, she’s back! And welcome back, Umbra-senpai.” said Yukari.

“Yeah, we’re back, Yukari.” said Umbra as he nodded to Yukari while ignoring the man.

“I see that you’re still disliking me, Okami-kun. And this is our new guest, Miyuki Arisato, I believe?” said the sophisticated man in a teasing tone of voice to Umbra (who’s still ignoring him) then Miyuki. “Good evening. My name is Shuji Ikutsuki, the chairman of the board of Gekkoukan High. “ _Ikutsuki_ ”……… Hard to say, isn’t it?” the man named Shuji Ikutsuki introduced himself to Miyuki after he greeted her.

“I guess.” said Miyuki as both she and Umbra sat down on the couch opposite Ikutsuki.

“That’s why I don’t like introducing myself. Even I get tongue-tied sometimes……… And I apologize about the confusion regarding your accommodations. However, it may take a while longer before you received the proper room assignment.” said Ikutsuki.

“I see.” said Miyuki.

“Lastly, is there you’d like to ask?” asked Ikutsuki.

“No, not really, Ikutsuki-san.” replied Miyuki as she shake her head a little.

“Then I hope that you have a successful school year. Now, if you’ll excuse me………” said Ikutsuki as he gave a small smile to Miyuki, stood up and walked toward the door but before he leave, he glance back at Miyuki again. “You must be tired from all the excitement. You should go to bed early today, Arisato-san. As they say “ _The early bird catches the bookworm_ ”. ………Please forget the bad pun.” chuckle Ikutsuki before he opened the door and left the dormitory.

“………You’ll get used to his lame jokes, Arisato-san.” sighed Yukari.

“ _That’s not the only thing he’s bad at. There’s something else about him that just rubs me the wrong way._ ” thought Umbra in his mind.

“Uh huh. I’ll be going up to my room now. Good night.” said Miyuki as she bade goodnight to both Umbra and Yukari before she stood up, turned and left the living room and head up the stairs to her room for slumber, unaware that she’ll watch by some of them from a hidden camera on the ceiling in her room.

XXXX

**Late night, inside a large room in the dormitory………**

As both Mitsuru and Yukari were sitting and watching the sleeping form of their newest dormmate in her room via a hidden camera in her room from the large monitor machine in front of them inside the room, they suddenly heard the sound of the door opening, turned to glance who is it and saw that it’s Ikutsuki.

“Working hard, you two? So, how’s she doing so far?” asked Ikutsuki to both Mitsuru and Yukari after he entered the room.

“She went to bed a little while ago and is asleep now. Mr. Chairman, do you think she’s………?” replied Mitsuru before she asked him a question.

“Well, let’s wait and see for now……… The Dark Hour is approaching.” replied Ikutsuki before he, Mitsuru and Yukari glance back at the monitor showing Miyuki sleeping in her room while they waited for the “Dark Hour” to come. After 5 minutes of waiting, the lights in the command room went out except for the monitor in front of them and their surroundings became dead quiet and tinged with green.

XXXX

**Meanwhile, on the rooftop of an apartment building near an alley………**

“ _Another poor guy fell victim to the shadow again. Then again, it’s the same as usual ever since the tragic accident 10 years ago._ ” thought the hooded guy flatly in his mind as he watch the other guy standing far below him in an alley scream and covered his face (which had black ooze leaking out) in fear and panic before the black ooze completely covered the guy’s entire body and he stop screaming and the black ooze move away from the guy (who’s looking very pale and lifeless and moaning weakly).

After the hooded guy’s done watching the other guy fell victim to the shadow and got Apathy Syndrome, he stood up, turned and left the apartment building.

XXXX

**Back in the dorm………**

"Hm, she's still sleeping." said Ikutsuki as he, Mitsuru and Yukari kept watching Miyuki still sleeping calmly in her room while in the Dark Hour. "The “Dark Hour” occurs every day at 12 midnight; you could say it’s the “hidden hour”. During this time, any ordinary person Transmogrified into a coffin, and is oblivious to all that occurs around them."

"That means she must be………" said Yukari as she glance at Ikutsuki.

“As you two can see, she’s retained her human form. She may be asleep now but she’s definitely experiencing the Dark Hour. The only question that remains is whether or not she has the potential. Although, it looks like she does have the potential……… otherwise they would have preyed on her by now.” said Ikutsuki.

"That’s scary………” said Yukari with a worry look on her face.

“Yes, it is, Yukari. In any case, we should continue to monitor her for a few more days.” said Ikutsuki.

"Yes sir." said Mitsuru as she nodded to him.

"I feel kinda bad though. Spying on her like this and she doesn’t know about it." sighed Yukari with a slight guilty look on her face now for spying on Miyuki.

"All for a good cause and besides, think of it as we’re keeping her safe from those things outside the dorm, Yukari." said Ikutsuki reassuringly to Yukari before he asked a question. "By the way, where’s Umbra and Akihiko, Mitsuru?”

“Akihiko tell me that he’s going out again and this time Umbra decided to go with him to help and keep an eye on him in case he got reckless, Chairman.” said Mitsuru.

“I see.” said Ikutsuki with a small nod of his head before he, Mitsuru and Yukari glance at the monitor again in silence.

XXXX

**Meanwhile, in an unknown place………**

Miyuki opened her eyes when she had a feeling of rapid ascending, look around and saw that she’s sitting on a chair inside a tall, large and complete velvet blue-coloured caged elevator that rapidly goes up (which explain the feeling she had) with several closed doors on both sides of her and a round, velvet blue table with a bizarre-looking, short white-haired, large bloodshot-eyed, long nosed elderly man wearing a black suit and white gloves on his hands is sitting on a couch on the other side of the table.

“ _Where am I and who is the bizarre-looking elderly man sitting in front of me?_ ” thought Miyuki as she glance flatly at the elderly man.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young girl." said the bizarre-looking, elderly man to Miyuki. "My name is Igor……… I am delighted to make your acquaintance, young girl.” said the elderly man as he introduced himself to Miyuki.

“I see. Nice to meet you, Igor-san. My name is Miyuki Arisato.” said Miyuki, introducing herself to Igor as well.

“This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter……… Only those who have signed the “contract” can enter this place………” said Igor before he click his fingers and the register form that the boy told Miyuki to signed on her first night in the dorm appear on the table.

“ _Isn’t that the same form that the boy told me to sign?_ ” thought Miyuki as she glance at the form.

“Henceforth, you shall be welcome here in the Velvet Room. You’re destined to hone your unique ability, and you’ll require my help to do so. I only ask one thing in return……… that you abide by the contract, and assume responsibility for the choices you make from now on.” said Igor as he gave a small smile to Miyuki.

“I don’t get it but I guess I’ll do it anyway.” said Miyuki as she shrugged her shoulders.

“That is fine for now. Hold on to this, young girl.” said Igor as he nodded to Miyuki before he raised and wave his right hand a little and a small, velvet blue key appear in the air in front of her before dropping into her hand. “There is still one more resident of this room, who unfortunately could not be present for your arrival. But I’ll make sure you two are properly met and introduced another time, perhaps. Til we meet again………” added Igor to Miyuki before the elevator room around her started to fade and she close her eyes and fell into unconsciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

**The next day………**

“ _What a weird dream I had last night, of being inside a caged elevator that rapidly goes up with a bizarre-looking elderly man sitting on a couch in front of me and who told me that I’m welcome to the Velvet Room because of the contract I signed, which used to be the registry form that the boy told me to signed on my first night……… Well, whatever. I should get ready for school._ ” thought Miyuki flatly in her mind about the dream that she had last night before she got off the bed to get ready to go to school.

XXXX

**A few minutes later, in front of the school’s gate………**

As Miyuki approach the school’s gate after she stepped out of the subway station with the other students, she’s found herself being joined by Junpei.

“Yo……… Miki-tan. Man, I’m so sleepy today. In times like this, it’s best to sleep in class. You ever notice how sometimes taking a nap in class makes you feels more refreshed than sleeping at home?” said Junpei as he smiled at Miyuki.

“I guess so.” said Miyuki without looking at him.

“Right? You go from dead to being completely full of energy again. It’s such a great feeling.” said Junpei.

“Excuse me, but did I just hear you saying that you’re trying to get Arisato-san to sleep in class like you did? Because if you are, then you leave me no choice but to give you a stern lecture. Hope you’re prepare for it, Iori-kun.” said Umbra’s cold and disapproval tone of voice from behind both Junpei (who tensed up in worry) and Miyuki before they turned around to glance at Umbra.

“Um, uh……… M-Morning, Umbra-senpai. A-And you got it all wrong, I’m not………” stammer Junpei worriedly to Umbra while Miyuki just ignored them both and head toward and into the school.

XXXX

**Another few minutes later, in class………**

“Ahem……… I’m Ekoda-sensei and I’ll be teaching you all Classic Literature.” said the normal and stern-looking male teacher wearing a complete plain grey suit with a white button up shirt underneath, a black and purple stripe necktie around his neck and black shoes on his feet to the students.

“I’ll be teaching you all about good old Japan all year. Some people say that Classic Lit isn’t relevant to everyday life, but oh, how wrong they are! The students, the other teachers……… Wrong, wrong, wrong! Nobody really understands Classic Lit………” Ekoda-sensei told the students, who had bored looks on their faces while Miyuki decided to tune out Ekoda-sensei’s lecture and look out the window.

XXXX

**Several hours later, after school………**

After school ended for the day and Miyuki stood up and packed up her school stuffs, she saw Yukari approach her and asked her to go to a place called Paulownia Mall with her. Miyuki shook her head and told Yukari that she won’t be going to the mall with her but Yukari won’t have it, grab hold of her arm and drag her out of the school before they toward the subway station, got into the train that’ll take them to Paulownia Mall. Once the train arrived and stopped in the station near Paulownia Mall, both Miyuki and Yukari walked out of the train and out of the station before they went toward and into the mall (which Miyuki could see several shops like Arcades, Pharmacy, CD, Antique to her right and a Police Station, Chagall café, Jewelry and Club Escapade to her left on the bottom floor, saw the Karaoke place is on the second floor while several people were sitting or walking around them in the mall).

“Have you come here before?” asked Yukari as she glance at Miyuki.

“No.” replied Miyuki as she shake her head.

“A lot of Gekkoukan students come here often after school. There’s a karaoke box and a CD shop. Oh, and a really great café too! There’s also a nightclub but that’s kinda not for us yet.” explain Yukari as she pointed out each of the shops to Miyuki.

“I see.” said Miyuki with a flat nod of her head.

Both Miyuki and Yukari then spend the next few minutes walking around the mall before they leave, take the train and head back to the dormitory, went in and greeted Mitsuru (who’s standing behind the counter near the front door) before Yukari went to the living room while Miyuki went upstairs to her room for her slumber.

XXXX

**Midnight, on a street nearby the dormitory………**

“Ugh, I’m bored. Why is it that when it’s full moon there’s none of those “things” roaming around for us to fight?” groaned Akihiko in a bored tone of voice to Umbra.

“For the last time, Akihiko! It’s because-” said Umbra as he turned to scowled in disapproval at Akihiko, about to berate him some more before he saw some huge black creature with dozens of hands and one of it’s hands holding a huge, glowing blue mask suddenly appearing out of nowhere behind Akihiko and before he could warned him, the black creature raised and smack Akihiko hard against a wall, which broke his left arm and causing him to grimace and let out a groan of pain.

“Akihiko! Goddammit!” yell Umbra as he glared at the creature that attack Akihiko before he take out and press a gun against his head.

XXXX

**Meanwhile, back in a certain room in the dormitory……….**

Both Mitsuru and Yukari were once again sitting and staring at the monitor showing a sleeping Miyuki in her room before Ikutsuki came into the room.

“How is she tonight?” asked Ikutsuki to them both.

“The same as last night.” replied Mitsuru as she briefly glance at Ikutsuki.

“Hm……… Very interesting.” said Ikutsuki with an approving nod of his head at Miyuki. “Even those who have the potential tend to be unstable at first……… Like having memory loss……… disorientation……… But this subject is rather unique. She hasn’t exhibited any of the common symptoms.”

“But……… We’re treating her like a guinea pig and she doesn’t know it. Plus Umbra-senpai agrees with me too before he left with Akihiko-senpai.” said Yukari with a slight guilty look on her face.

“I understand yours and Okami-kun’s concerns, but it’s imperative that we recruit new members. Furthermore, I heard that she’s in your class……… Wouldn’t you be more comfortable working with someone from the same grade? A female classmate at that.” said Ikutsuki reassuringly to Yukari.

“Yeah, I guess. But still………” said Yukari in hesitant agreement with Ikutsuki before an emergency beeping sound from the machine in front of them rang out in the room and cut off the rest of Yukari’s words while Mitsuru quickly press the speaker button on the machine.

“Command room……… Is that you two, Umbra, Akihiko?” said Mitsuru.

“ _Yeah, it’s us, Mitsuru!_ ” replied Umbra’s concern voice back to her.

“What’s wrong, Umbra?” asked Mitsuru concernly to Umbra.

“ _You guys are not gonna believe this………! This thing is huge!_ ” replied Akihiko’s voice instead of Umbra to Mitsuru this time. “ _Unfortunately we don’t have time to talk……… because it’s chasing us……… I just wanted to let you guys know that we’re almost there._ ” added Akihiko’s voice to them before he fell silent.

Yukari, Mitsuru and Ikutsuki gasped and widened their eyes in shock and concern when they heard Akihiko telling them that both he and Umbra were being chased by something big and they’re now heading to the dorm.

“Does that mean……… They’re bringing that thing here right now!?” said Yukari worriedly to both Mitsuru and Ikutsuki.

“Mr. Chairman! Let’s suspend our observation of Miyuki Arisato for now. We’ll prepare for battle!” said Mitsuru concernly and firmly to Ikutsuki.

“R-Right! Be careful!” said Ikutsuki as he nodded to Mitsuru before she and Yukari turned and quickly left the command room and run downstairs.

XXXX

**On the first floor of the dorm………**

Both Umbra and Akihiko run into the dormitory and Umbra quickly shut the door behind them while Akihiko let out a groan and clutch his injured left arm with his right hand as he slowly sat down on the floor just as both Mitsuru and Yukari run down the stairs and approach them both.

“Umbra!” yell Mitsuru concernly to Umbra.

“Akihiko-senpai!” yell Yukari concernly to Akihiko as well.

“We’re both fine, you two. Mostly anyway.” said Umbra reassuringly to them both.

“Get ready to be surprised……… It’ll be here any second.” said Akihiko as he smiled weakly at them.

“This is no time to joke around!” snapped Mitsuru as she scowled at Akihiko.

“She’s right! You just got injured and you still find the time to joke around?” groaned Umbra as he scowled at Akihiko as well.

“Is it one of them, Umbra, Akihiko?” asked Ikutsuki urgently to them both.

“Yes, but it’s not an ordinary one—” replied Akihiko (since Umbra scowled and fell silent when he saw Ikutsuki approaching them) before he trailed off when he, Umbra, Mitsuru, Yukari (who scream in worry and fear) and Ikutsuki felt the dorm building suddenly shake quite violently.

“What the………!? You’ve got to be kidding me!” said Yukari.

“Unfortunately it’s not, Takeba-san.” said Umbra sadly to Yukari.

“Mr. Chairman, please head to the command room now!” Mitsuru told Ikutsuki (who nodded before he quickly turned around and run upstairs to the command room) before she glance at Yukari while taking out a gun from the holster. “Takeba, go upstairs and wake her up! Then escape out the back.” ordered Mitsuru.

“But what about you three?” said Yukari worriedly to Mitsuru.

“We’ll stop it here.” said Mitsuru.

“That’s right, Yukari. We have to since we let it chase us all the way back here.” said Umbra in agreement with Mitsuru.

“It’s not like we had a choice, Umbra! And what’re you still waiting here for, Yukari!? Go and get her already!” snapped Akihiko as he scowled at both Umbra and Yukari.

“R-Right! I’m going now!” said Yukari before she turned and run toward the stairs while Umbra, Mitsuru and Akihiko opened the front door and went out to fight the thing that chased both Umbra and Akihiko to the dorm.


	5. Chapter 5

The loud sound of something striking the dorm and caused it to shake quite violently woke Miyuki up from her slumber and as she got off the bed and was about walked toward the door to investigate, the sound of frantic knocking from outside her room stopped her in her tracks.

“Wake up, Miyuki! Sorry, I’m coming in!” said Yukari’s worry voice to Miyuki before she opened the door and quickly came in.

“Why? What’s going on?” asked Miyuki in confusion to Yukari.

“I don’t have time to explain. We’ve to get out of here now! Hurry! Downstairs! We’ll leave through the back door!” said Yukari worriedly to Miyuki instead of answering her question before she turned toward the opened door. “Wait! ………Take this, just in case.” added Yukari as she suddenly realised something, turned around to hand over a kind of chakram weapon to Miyuki (who take it from her with a more confused look on her face).

“Okay, let’s go! Follow me!” said Yukari as she grab hold of Miyuki’s hand, bring her out of her room and down the stairs until they arrived and stopped in front of the back door inside the dining room.

“Alright, we should be safe now--” said Yukari reassuringly to Miyuki after they arrived in the dining room before Miyuki heard a beeping sound coming from Yukari and saw her take a black walkie-talkie out of her pocket.

“ _Takeba, do you read me!?_ ” said Mitsuru’s voice from the walkie-talkie to Yukari.

“Y-Yes! I hear you loud and clear!” said Yukari.

" _Be careful! There’s more than one enemy because the one we’re fighting now isn’t the one Umbra and Akihiko saw!_ " said Mitsuru warningly to Yukari.

"What!? Are you serious!?" said Yukari in surprise and shock to Mitsuru.

“ _Of course we’re SERIOUS, Yukari!_ ” yell Umbra’s voice.

The next second, both Yukari and Miyuki jumped and stepped back from the back door when they heard a series of loud banging sounds coming from outside the door.

“Okay, what’s going on, Takeba-san?” asked Miyuki.

"No time to explain! W-We need to pull back and went upstairs now!” said Yukari worriedly to Miyuki before she grab hold of her arm and they quickly run out of the dining room and up the stairs. Once both Yukari and Miyuki reached the third floor, Miyuki suddenly stopped running, pull her arm away from Yukari’s grip and glance at the full moon through the window.

“The moon……… It’s full again.” said Miyuki.

“What’re you doing standing there and staring at the moon for!? We’re being chased by something! Do you wanna die!?” said Yukari incredulously to Miyuki.

“Doesn’t matter to me.” said Miyuki before she glance flatly at Yukari (who had a disbelief look on her face). “Is dying really that scary to you?”

“How could you say that?” said Yukari in disbelief to Miyuki before they felt the building shake again, glance at the window only to see a black hand holding an eerie, huge, glowing blue mask with the number 1 in roman numeral engraved on it’s forehead staring in flat silence at them through the window as well before it raised and pressed another of it’s black hand against the window in preparation to break it.

“Watch out!” yell Yukari as she rushed forward and tackled Miyuki to the floor before the shadowy thing break the window, which caused one of the glass shards to slash Yukari’s right thigh and make her let out a gasp of pain before she quickly pull Miyuki up and they resumed running up the stairs.

“There’s still things I haven’t found out and know yet! I’m not ready to die yet! I don’t want to die!” mutter Yukari to herself as she kept on running up the stairs while still holding Miyuki’s hand (who’s staring in silence at her) and ignoring the bleeding wound on her thigh until they reached and stumbled out onto the roof and Yukari quickly closed and locked the door behind them.

“Alright, we should be safe now. Are you alright-” asked Yukari as she glance concernly at Miyuki only for them to hear another loud thud sound (which cut off her words) then the sound of something climbing up the exterior of the dorm building in front of them before they saw dozens of black hands then the same eerie, huge, glowing blue mask showed itself and stepped onto the roof before it’s hands suddenly take out dozens of sharp knives out of thin air.

“Whoa. What the hell is that thing?” said Miyuki in slight surprise to Yukari.

“No way! You’ve gotta be kidding me! It climbed up the outer wall of the dorm………!?” said Yukari with a shock and disbelief look on her face.

XXXX

**Meanwhile, inside the command room in the dorm………**

“God! Didn’t expect that shadow thing to summon and bring reinforcements with it to the dorm! Now where the hell is Yukari and the new girl!?” said Umbra as he start looking at the monitors on the wall in front of him, Mitsuru, Akihiko (after they took down the shadow’s reinforcements) and Ikutsuki-san with a worry look on his face.

“There! They’re both on the roof, Umbra!” said Akihiko as he pointed at a monitor showing both Miyuki and Yukari standing on the roof with the huge shadow thing.

“Not just them, but that gigantic shadow’s with them too! ………Just what is it we’re dealing with!?” said Mitsuru with a worry look on her face.

“We’ll talk about it later! Right now we need to get to them both, Mitsuru, Umbra!” said Akihiko to both Mitsuru and Umbra, who nodded in unison to him before they turned and went toward the command room door.

“Wait, you three!” said Ikutsuki-san to the three of them, which make them stopped in their tracks and glance back at him.

“Wait for what, Ikutsuki? Wait for that thing to killed them both!? Like hell we will!” snapped Umbra as he glared at Ikutsuki.

“Umbra, calm down. Go and help them while Akihiko and I stay here.” said Mitsuru calmly to Umbra.

“………Fine, Mitsuru. I’ll be back soon.” Said Umbra as he nodded to Mitsuru before he left the room and run up the stairs toward the rooftop where both Yukari and Miyuki is.


	6. Chapter 6

**On the rooftop………**

“That’s the thing that attacked this place……… We call them “Shadows”!” Yukari told Miyuki.

“Shadows?” said Miyuki in flat confusion to Yukari (who didn’t answer her question) before she saw her take out the same gun that she take out and pointed at her on her first day here while the huge shadow swiftly make it’s way toward them both.

“O-Oh yeah……… I have to fight……… I can summon mine, no problem. H-Here goes!” said Yukari as she closed her eyes, raised and pressed the barrel of the gun against her forehead while letting out worry and ragged breaths and before she could pull the trigger, the huge shadow raised one of it’s black hands to smacked Yukari away, which make her cried out in surprise and pain (and make Miyuki gasped and had a worry look on her face for the first time) before she landed hard on her right side and groaning in pain on the rooftop while the gun that she holds fell from her hand, spinning toward Miyuki and stopped near her feet.

As for the huge shadow, it glance in silence at Miyuki for a few seconds before it ignored her, turned and approach Yukari.

“ _No……… No……… Come on, get up……… Get up and run already……… It’s nearly upon you………_ ” thought Miyuki as she glance concernly at Yukari while the huge shadow got even more closer toward her before she glance down at the gun at her feet, picked it up and the next second, everything around her turned white and the same boy that she saw standing behind the counter and told her to sign the contract appear before her with a strange, small smile on his face.

“ _Go on. Pull the trigger and saved her._ ” the small boy urged Miyuki before he disappear and the white space around her also disappear and she saw that she’s back on the rooftop with the huge shadow and Yukari and also heard someone or something banging on the locked door behind her before struggling to unlock the door.

Miyuki then glance back down at the gun in her hand as she started to let out worry and ragged breaths, felt and heard her heart beating quite fast and strongly in her chest when she think back to Yukari closing her eyes and pressing the gun against her forehead and about the time where she lose her parents and siblings in an accident 10 years ago before she closed her eyes, take a deep breath to calm herself and pressed the gun under her chin.

“Per………so………na………” said Miyuki (though she had no idea on why the word came easily to her and why she had to say it out) before she pulled the trigger, felt an invisible, strong yet somehow not painful force went upward from her chin to the top of her head, causing shards of blue/white glass to blasted out from her head and a circular-shaped, blue/white light to appear beneath her feet before the floating figure of a pale-skinned, short golden-haired, blue-eyed man wearing a full and fierce-looking black and grey-coloured Greek battle armor with a long white cape behind him and a thick black book with some rune markings on it under his right arm appear behind Miyuki just as Yukari opened her eyes and saw Miyuki and the figure behind her, the huge shadow stopped and turned around to glance at her while the person who’s struggling to unlock the door finally unlock it and quickly opened the door to reveal Umbra.

“A persona………” said Yukari weakly.

“ _Looks like we were right. Miyuki Arisato does have the potential like us._ ” thought Umbra as he glance in awed silence at Miyuki’s persona.

“ _I am thou……… Thou art I……… From the sea of thy soul I’ve come……… I’m Archimedes, master of five talents._ ” said the figure named Archimedes to Miyuki.

“Get rid of that thing, Archimedes.” ordered Miyuki calmly to Archimedes as she raised and pointed a finger at the huge shadow and Archimedes nodded before he opened his book, chanted something and causing huge balls of flames to appear, flew toward and crash against the huge shadow to burned it.

The huge shadow screech in pain from the flaming balls attack of Archimedes before it retaliate by swinging it’s knifes at Archimedes, who dodged it’s knifes while still chanting from the book to called forth and sent some more huge balls of flames toward the huge shadow.

XXXX

**Inside the command room………**

“Not good! Arisato need to stop now or she’ll passed out from exhaustion! Umbra, hurry and stop her now!” said Mitsuru to Umbra through the walkie-talkie in her hand as she, Akihiko and Ikutsuki watched Miyuki and her persona, Archimedes fight the huge shadow.

XXXX

**Back on the rooftop………**

“Got it, Mitsuru!” said Umbra as he received the order to stop Miyuki from Mitsuru before he glance at her. “Miyuki, you need to stop now!” yell Umbra concernly to Miyuki (who didn’t hear what he said to her) as he try to approach her but unable to due to the flames around her.

As Miyuki was about to order Archimedes to sent out another wave of flaming balls to the huge shadow, both she and Archimedes suddenly clutched their heads, writhe and let out cries of pain and agony in unison and both Yukari and Umbra watched with concern/horror looks on their faces as something else clawed and ripped Archimedes apart to freed itself to reveal a new persona being.

The new persona being that burst out of Archimedes is a dark gray and black fearsome-looking persona that had a white beak-like head with black hollow eyes on it, long white gloves on it’s hands, long white boots on it’s sharp-like legs, a long and menacing-looking sharp sword strapped on a white belt around it’s waist and eight coffin-like wings that had white figures of robed women in prayers on it chained together behind it’s back.

Soon after the fearsome-looking persona burst itself out of Archimedes, it then pulled out it’s sword, charge toward the huge shadow away from Miyuki (who fell to her knees on the ground) while ignoring the flames around it and raised and swung it’s sword down several times on the huge shadow, brutally slashing then ripping the huge shadow apart into small pieces of black shreds (which make both Umbra and Yukari widened their eyes in shock and horror) before the small torn pieces of the huge shadow dissipated away into nothing then the persona let out a loud roar, briefly turned around to glance concernly at Miyuki before it’s entire body flicker and change back to Archimedes before Archimedes glowed brightly then disappear as well.

"Is……… is it over? Are you alright, Miyuki-san?" asked Yukari concernly to Miyuki as she stood up and walked toward her and let out a worry gasp when she saw Miyuki closed her eyes and as Miyuki’s about to fall face-down on the floor of the rooftop, Umbra quickly rushed forward and grab hold of her before she fall.

“Umbra-senpai! What’s wrong with her, is she alright!?” asked Yukari worriedly to Umbra (who’s checking Miyuki’s pulse on her neck with his fingers).

“She’s fine, Yukari. Just exhausted due to her awakening to her persona for the first time.” replied Umbra in a relief tone of voice to Yukari.

“Oh, thank goodness.” sighed Yukari in relief at knowing that Miyuki’s alright. “But still, what is that terrible thing that we saw ripped itself out of her persona and tear that huge shadow apart, Umbra-senpai?” asked Yukari worriedly to Umbra.

“I don’t know, Yukari. For now, we need to get Miyuki to a hospital ASAP.” said Umbra.

“R-Right! Let’s go!” said Yukari as she nodded to Umbra before they turned around and left the rooftop.

XXXX  
  
 **Meanwhile, on the rooftop of another building.........**  
  
" _It can't be......... Miyuki Arisato!? She's alive and she's awaken to her persona just like I did! I'll come for you soon enough, Miyuki._ " thought the hooded guy as he glance in disbelief then joy and relief at seeing Miyuki alive and well before she got taken away by Umbra and Yukari off the rooftop of the dorm then he turned around and left the rooftop as well.


End file.
